


Signed With Love, Maybe

by hisboywriter



Category: Young Avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:26:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisboywriter/pseuds/hisboywriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy and Tommy get detention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Signed With Love, Maybe

**-X-**

Billy narrowed one eye at the note teetering over his desk.

 

Reluctant, he snatched it before it could fall and dragged it closer, if only to avoid getting into even more trouble. He flicked his eyes to the desk beside him, finding Tommy smiling at him and gesturing for him to open the folded paper. Careful, and a bit wary, Billy did.

**do you know the girl 3 seats in front of you**

Curious at first, Billy peered up and around a boy’s shoulders two rows ahead of him. He spotted the girl, recognizing her as one of his classmates in English. Instead of relaying the information to Tommy though, Billy folded the note again and gave Tommy a look he hoped would capture his ire.

After all, it was Tommy’s fault that  _both_  of them were in detention. His twin was crazier than he thought if he expected Billy to risk further trouble by note-chatting.

Ignoring the quirked brow Tommy gave him, Billy picked up his pencil and returned to untangling math problems. He should have been at Teddy’s basketball practice, casting admiring glances at his boyfriend’s talent in between finishing his weekend assignments. Then they would have walked home together, discuss the school day, and weigh the pros and cons between going out on a Friday night or shacking up on a cozy couch.

But today he was a victim of fate’s bad mood. He was stuck with a handful of misfits, including Tommy, and patrolled by a teacher with an award-winning scowl.  He’d never had detention before in his life and the memory of his name being called out in such a scolding manner still had him hanging his head low.

Something light knocked him in the temple and he blinked down in his lap where a tiny, crumbled scrap of paper rested on his lap. He quietly smoothed it out.

**whats her name**

Billy gave him another look with more bite to it, thinking he did a good job of showcasing the ‘STOP BOTHERING ME’ vibe. He stuffed the crumbled paper into his pocket and went back to work. His eyes scanned the problem again, his brain failing to process any of it. From the corner of his eyes, he knew Tommy was scribbling again and, like he expected, had another note on Billy’s desk in seconds. It was worse because, in order to avoid detection, Tommy abused his speedster skills.

 _Just ignore it_ , Billy told himself. One glance at the folded paper was all he did before his eyes sank back to the math problem. Again, he sensed Tommy shifting, and then another note was placed on top of his desk. Billy tugged his math book, laying it over the notes, and taking the space Tommy was dumping the paper.

For a moment, it seemed to have done the trick. He should have known better, really, thinking it would be solved so easily—remember, he was on fate’s hit list today. Just as he had finished one equation, a note appeared on the open book.

Then, another.

  
Another.

Another.

Two more.

Billy straightened at the growing pile and whipped his head around. “ _Tommy_ ,” he hissed.

“Mr. Kaplan, is that your voice I’m hearing?”

The teacher leaned forward on the desk, head tilting down so his eyes peeked from above his glasses. It probably only made Billy a blurred figure (bad eyesight, and all) but the instilled warning came through nonetheless. Billy only shook his head, hoping the teacher could actually see him do it, and duck back into his shoulders like a busy student. A quick squish of the notes by his arm had been the only thing keeping the teacher from seeing the small pile.

Safe for the moment, Billy glowered at the notes and then at Tommy. His twin winked at him and pointed at his notebook and then at the papers on Billy’s desk.  _I have plenty more where that came from_ , is what Billy translated it as.

Billy gripped his pen harder and exhaled long, albeit quietly, through his nose. Fine. He handled each paper with delicacy to avoid a sudden rustling noise. He started with the first one he had ignored and worked his way up.

 **Come on whats her name**. Billy rolled his eyes.

**don’t ignore me**

**billy billy billy bo billy**

**LOOK I’M YELLING AT YOU WITH MY CAPITAL LETTERS PAY ATTENTION**

**I’m the one who borrowed your ipod**. Ugh, Billy  _knew_  that’s where it had been hiding all this time.

 **you could just zap the teachers’ minds and make this whole thing disappear**. Billy almost smirked at that.

 **bet you would look if there was a naked picture of teddy in here**. Another eye roll.

The last one was a crude drawing relating to the last comment and Billy choked on his voice, forcing down the noise fast. A quick peek told him he was still safe. He looked at Tommy again, challenging his stare. Tommy only quirked both brows, one foot tapping at the ground while one hand rolled his pencil between two fingers.

It wasn’t enough to make much noise but Billy thought he could  _see_  Tommy repressing the urge to make more noise. The speedster’s other set of fingers were drumming on his leg and, if Billy sort of squinted, Tommy looked like a twitching mess all over.

Billy’s stare softened, struck with a hunch about how agitated Tommy must have felt. The speedster was stuck here, forced into a limited space, expected to be silent until time ran out. But time passed differently for Tommy, and Billy wondered how much of his twin’s mind was screaming at him to do anything but just  _sit_  there and wait, and wait, and  _wait_. Did he look this edgy in all of his classes?

Maybe sympathy got the better of Billy because after almost sighing, he grabbed a piece of paper (one  _without_  the crude drawing) and began to write.

Tommy snatched it fast when he folded it up.

**_Jin-Hee is her real name I think. we call her Jin in class and if you ever draw me something like that again I’ll zap YOUR mind_ **

Billy didn’t watch Tommy’s reaction to his note, pretending to work diligently instead until a new note was passed back.

**single?**

Billy wasn’t surprised by the question.

**_overprotective brother. plays on the basketball team_ **

Glancing over, Billy saw realization come over his twin. Tommy would know who he spoke of, given that both he and Billy had attended most of Teddy’s games and got somewhat acquainted with the other players. Jin’s brother was one of the players Teddy was closest to and roughly the same build but where Teddy’s face was kind, big brother’s was pinched and harsh.

Repressing a chuckle at Tommy’s scrunched up face, Billy waited for the note to come back to him.

**single, gotcha. all that matters**

A frown grew on Billy at that, and he wrote more slowly this time, paused, erased his reply twice, and reworded it. When Tommy took it, he snuck looks at the speedster as he read the response.

**_does is really? thought you went out with Kate even though she and Eli were sort of a thing._ **

Tension might have flashed across Tommy’s face, eyes might have hardened a moment. Billy couldn’t tell for certain though, and speculated that even if it had, Tommy could probably wipe it off in the time it took for Billy to blink.

Still, Billy tried to make sense of his body language, the way Tommy’s foot had stopped tapping. He was sure even Tommy had to have picked on the silent question beneath Billy’s handwriting: what about you and Kate?

The tapping resumed, less so than before, and Tommy scribbled something fast and handed it over.

**what about it**

The words had been scrawled quickly, and yet were still darker than the other messages, applied with more pressure than necessary. Billy pressed his lips together, fidgeting with his pencil. He almost chickened out asking, figuring it was pointless to press for more details from someone like Tommy. A stronger urge overpowered his reluctance though, one that told him it was Tommy’s idea to start this note-passing thing and that it was a better method to getting answers than outwardly asking Tommy to his face.

So, Billy wrote with newer purpose.

**_thought you liked her is all. don’t you?_ **

By asking a question, Billy figured he had a better chance of receiving a reply. But when almost a minute passed by, the mage wondered if he had been wrong. Just as he tilted his head to see what Tommy was doing, the paper was back on his desk. Billy flushed at how quick he was to grab it.

Expecting a cynical reply, Billy stared, thinking there had to be more to Tommy’s reply than just one word.

**yea**

Billy almost chuckled through his nose, smiling just a bit at the weight of those three letters. Part of him wanted to look at Tommy, just to see what he could catch on the boy’s face. He withstood the temptation though, somehow thinking it would make Tommy come back to his senses. With curiosity guiding his hand, Billy took that one word as an invitation and ran with it. He wrote as fast as he could.

**_Kate is going to watch some runway show next week. Cass can’t go so I said I’d go but I’m not really into that stuff. want my invite?_ **

He hoped it didn’t read too strong. That was the thing with passing notes; it kept him and Tommy at a distance, fabricating a thin security blanket to some extent. Tommy could take Billy’s words and say them in his head in the tone that made him most comfortable, regardless of the original intent. Either way, Billy found himself a little anxious to read what Tommy would write next, more so when the alternative was pre-calculus.

Tommy took a while to respond, a few extra seconds than the usual pace. When Billy opened the note, he saw the reply overlapped on erase marks and skeletal scratches of whatever Tommy had originally written.

**yea maybe. Isn’t next weekend when your parents have that dinner?**

**_Teddy and I can handle Jacob and Isaac on our own._  **Billy paused at his words, almost having written, ‘we’ve managed without you’. Another question burned at the forefront of his mind now. He squashed it down, folded the note, and waited for Tommy’s response first.

It came faster this time around.

**oh yea somehow you survived all this time without me**

Billy’s stomach flipped and he reread the comment, reluctant to interpret it as just a tease when there was a lot of truth to it. Multiple questions tumbled through Billy’s head, about Tommy’s pre-hero life, whether Tommy had always been fast to hide his emotional expressions, if Tommy held any bitterness over being stuck under the same roof as Billy, whether- Billy hit the brakes on his imagination.

He studied the lines on the page, suddenly uncertain that once he started writing, he’d be able to stop. With effort, he wrote slowly as if to prevent any of the questions from filtering through the pencil. Somehow taking care with each letter helped Billy focus and think his message would read gently , even if only for himself.

Sneaking a peek up ahead, he found the teacher less patrolling now and more occupied with reading a thick text. Billy folded the paper with more caution anyway and nudged it to the edge of the desk for Tommy to take.

This time, he watched Tommy from the corner of his eyes, head bowed as if diligent in his studies. For all his effort though, all he made out was Tommy holding the note open.

 ** _we managed. but I’m glad you moved in with us instead of HQ_.** And then Billy had offered a piece of himself back to Tommy.  ** _I remember worrying about that. Not to mention if my parents would freak about everything._**

Tommy wrote again and slipped back the paper.

 **they must have been thrilled to know you had a sort of twin with powers.** Billy smiled, hearing Tommy’s laughing tune mingle with the words. There was no comment about Billy’s concern over him though.  **your parents couldn’t have freaked out much if at all. they let me move in didn’t they?**

With open arms, Billy remembered. He couldn’t help look at Tommy, found his twin sneaking glances back. With his small smile growing, Billy held Tommy’s eyes for seconds, thinking he found a smile in them. When he looked back at the paper, rereading it, Billy tripped over the word ‘parents’. A darker mood weighed down on him as a familiar thought unearthed itself from his mind.

Tommy’s parents never did come up as a topic, the speedster having shut it down too fast for Billy to take much out of it. The extent of his knowledge consisted of two small points: that Tommy’s father had left the picture at some point and that his mother didn’t seek Tommy out now. Billy had guessed his twin had spoken about it more to Billy’s own mom and dad, but he wasn’t about to ask them for details on Tommy—as if his parents would give it anyway.

Pushing through his hesitation, Billy started writing, all too aware of the unease his fingers had with wording the question. He didn’t have to look at Tommy to guess the topic was touchy, so he kept his eyes on math while Tommy read it.

 ** _you ever plan to reunite with your mom or anything? she must miss you._  **The next part Billy had previously been written as the opening, but he figured it would serve better in the end to cushion Tommy’s feelings. ** _and yeah, my parents are attached to you already. I even think my brothers like you more than they like me._**

Billy could only fathom if it did anything for Tommy while he waited. His own leg bounced and he looked back to the front of the classroom to occupy his time, keep him from staring at Tommy and deciphering every move the other boy made.

It was difficult not to, given only a few feet of air separated them, and that his interest had been so well piqued. Then again, when you’re bogged down to a desk for an hour with a glowering teacher and math problems, it didn’t take much to invest your attention elsewhere.

By the time Billy was silently counting the wrinkles on the shirt of the boy two seats ahead of him, Tommy had replied. Seeing it startled Billy as much as he was pleased to have gotten it back. Doubts had already been entering him about how far Tommy would bother taking their conversation. Though maybe it was all Tommy could do to reply, or else be doomed to having a clock determine the time of his freedom.

 **didn’t like a freak for a son.** Tommy’s writing then jumped to the next line. Billy wondered if it was his way of forsaking all things related to his mother.  **your parents are pretty cool I guess. you guys do a lot of family stuff. I never ate dinner at the same table with my mom.**

**_my mom says studies show it’s important to have dinners at the table with the family. I use to think it was dumb actually. It’s kind of fun now that we have more people at the table._ **

**doesn’t hurt that you guys make real food.**  Billy dwelled on those words a moment before he scanned the rest of the text.  **I’m pretty amazing at making lasagna now.**

That was true, Billy thought, stifling another smile. He remembered how unenthusiastic Tommy had been when he learned each family member helped made dinner at some point. Maybe it was Tommy’s uncanny gift to process information quickly or a well placed coaxing by Billy’s dad, but Tommy had gotten quite a knack for cooking. Billy secretly looked forward to the nights Tommy would be the chef’s aid.

**_you could be a chef. really. And you could whip up the food fast for people haha good business_ **

**maybe I’ll have a restaurant. A big chain of them and when you’re broke and becoming a hobo, you can clean the dishes at one of my places**

Billy almost laughed at the response, covering his lips with the back of his hand as if he was thinking hard over his homework.  ** _wow, thanks. glad to know you expect great things of me_**

**it’s what brothers do, so i’ve heard**

Stopping at the words momentarily, Billy smoothed out the crinkles on the page. Brothers.

**_so does that mean you believe me?_ **

**no but i’ve seen weird things in my day too. Juvie’s full of stuff like that.**

**_where we found you wasn’t really a juvie. It was a prison of experiments_.**  Billy knew his handwriting had taken a vicious look to them, darker and serious. Tommy never shared that bit of himself, how much of a guinea pig role he had been forced to take. Billy partly wanted to know, and partly didn’t. Whichever urge was stronger, Billy couldn’t bring himself to meddle in Tommy’s nightmares about it so he stopped writing and returned the note, his heart heavy.

Nothing could have prepared him for Tommy’s response.

**hi I’m new in town can I have directions to your house?**

Billy knew it had to be a joke with the smirk Tommy wore, yet it did little to subdue his shock. In all honesty, he had anticipated a dismissive albeit somber reply at best or no response at all at worst. This crude line, in all its forms, could only make Billy look at Tommy and mouth around a grin, ‘WHAT?’.

In a flash, Tommy snatched back the note and wrote something before sneaking it back.

**too forward for Jin? maybe should ask if she has the time.**

**_What?? why would you ask her for the time? and that was a stale pick up line. you better had been joking about using it_ **

**maybe. and no, i wouldn’t be asking her to tell me the time. i’d be asking if she had the time to write down my #**

So what if this was Tommy’s method of protecting himself, a way to shadow his insecurities. Billy dropped his head and struggled with his laugh all the same, rubbing his mouth against his arm as inconspicuously as possible.

“ _Mr. Kaplan_.”

Billy’s head shot up like prey catching wind of a predator. In the short time it took for him to inhale sharply, the teacher behind the desk lowered his text with a heavy thud.

“Is that a  _note_  I see?”

“No, sir,” Billy blurted out, trying to play it like it was his assignment—a very wrinkled one, at that.

But the teacher was having none of it and began to uncoil not unlike a cobra from its bed. Panic seized Billy’s spine and he shot a look at Tommy, who seemed unable to decide between bursting into a laugh or pretending to seem apologetic.

Two strides and the teacher came around the desk and then—then, the glorious sound of freedom bounced off the dingy walls; detention over.

Billy didn’t skip a beat in mimicking everyone else’s, especially Tommy’s, swiftness in shoving their personal property into their bags and trampling toward the door. At best, Billy offered a few parting words to the teacher, not daring to linger and meet his doom.

Once he breached the safety of the hallway, he beamed at Teddy’s presence, sparing Tommy one of his irritated looks. “Teddy!”

“No time for gushing moments, kids,” Tommy said, snatching the blonde’s jersey and yanking him along. “Don’t wanna risk more detention for next week. Sooner we put this place behind us, the better.”

Teddy blinked, allowed himself to be half-dragged. “What  _did_  you guys do to get in trouble anyway?”

Billy groaned. “Don’t ask. I want to pretend it never happen, repress it, and let it blow up at a later time in an unhealthy manner. Preferably at Tommy.”

The speedster flashed a grin over his shoulder. “Shut up and walk faster. I say movies and pizza are in our near future.”

“I thought you hated watching movies with us,” Teddy said, throwing a curious look back at Billy.

Billy could only shrug. He had plenty of dissecting Tommy for one day.

“I hate remembering that I’m dateless tonight even more,” Tommy answered.

“What happened to asking Jin out?” Billy asked, voice capturing his umpteenth eye roll of the day.

Tommy shook his head and sighed. “You don’t ask a lady out too close to the weekend. That’s just poor planning, even if I like getting things done fast. Gotta give her time to prepare and grow excited about it. Monday or Tuesday is the best day.”

Billy sighed back, only his was a much heavier sound that drowned out their impatient footsteps. Despite himself, he couldn’t undo the smile on his face as he caught up with the others.

He dared to speculate if the topics Tommy brought up through their notes had actually been a silent request for Billy to be nosy, that maybe this had been Tommy’s way of opening up to someone, maybe for the first time. Just because, maybe.

Wondering harder over that, Billy watched Tommy take the lead with Teddy, laughing at something the shape-shifter said, acting not at all like he had undergone a bonding moment with Billy. With a quick head shake and tug to his backpack, Billy dispensed that theory and trailed after them.

Later that night, when he was trashing scraps of paper from the chaos in his backpack and pockets, he would review the sheet with all their scribbling on it, smile, and tuck it in the back of one of his drawers.

**-X-**


End file.
